gensplosion | Entries tagged with dark

FANDOM: Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!
FIC LINK: Vietnam | Scars | Let Sleeping Dogs
AUTHOR LINK: Rorschach's Blot
RATING/WARNING(S): T, M, T
WIP?/WORD COUNT: Complete, 1796 words, 4679 words, 2630 words respectively
MAIN CHARACTERS: Shaggy Rogers

FIC SUMMARY: A trilogy of oneshot fics concerning Shaggy as a Vietnam war veteran.

RECCER'S NOTES: The premise is treated very seriously and provides some explanation for some of Shaggy's canonical character traits. If you're wondering how this series came to be, the writer was inspired by a trip to a video store, where one television had some Scooby-Doo clips on and the other had a war film. The original cartoon took place in the late 1960s and early 1970s, so the idea of one of Mystery Inc being a Vietnam veteran came to mind.
(Mods, let me know if I messed up the post by doing it this way)

longlivehumour

FANDOM: Red Dwarf
FIC LINK: Nine Little Words
AUTHOR LINK:

Adrian-Tullberg
RATING/WARNING(S): G | none
WIP?/WORD COUNT: Complete | 1900 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Frank Rimmer, Arnold J. Rimmer

FIC SUMMARY: It doesn't take much to change a life. AU.

RECCER'S NOTES: Unsettling, cathartic, funny and frighteningly plausible, this is an AU that will stick in your head. Frank Rimmer's narration works wonders, his distaste for his brother dripping from every syllable, and the entire storything is full of a black comedy which is very much Red Dwarf. Remember, remember, the Fifth of November, gunpowder, treason and plot...

ozqueen

FANDOM: MCU/Captain America
FIC LINK: Anyway, Here's Wonderwall
AUTHOR LINK:

KiaraSayre
RATING/WARNING(S): T | Canon typical violence/Graphic depictions of violence
WIP?/WORD COUNT: Complete | 2782
MAIN CHARACTERS: James "Bucky" Barnes

FIC SUMMARY: The Winter Soldier tracks down each and every HYDRA agent that forced him to kill and watches them die. He also tries to become a well-rounded individual with interests and hobbies. The results are mixed.

RECCER'S NOTES:

This is somehow not as cracky as it seems. Bucky tries to recover from being the Winter Soldier by hunting down and killing the people responsible. He discovers things like sudoku and guitar along the way and tries to incorporate them into his life as a tactical way of fitting in, but also as a way to just be more NORMAL. It's funny and dark and weird and I love it.

ozqueen

FANDOM: Harry Potter
FIC LINK: The Abyss Gazes Also
AUTHOR LINK: tangleofthorns
RATING/WARNING(S): R
WIP?/WORD COUNT: Complete | 8141
MAIN CHARACTERS: Sirius Black, Rodolphus Lestrange, Iris Crouch, Bellatrix Lestrange, Antonin Dolohov, Rubeus Hagrid, the Dementors

FIC SUMMARY: "O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams." - William Shakespeare

RECCER'S NOTES:

First things first: I bookmarked this fic years ago and it seems to have disappeared everywhere but this archived page. If the above link doesn't work, try here, and click the little drop down menu to go from "notes" to "first chapter". Because it's worth it. IT'S SO HORRIBLY, HORRIBLY WORTH IT.
This fic builds Azkaban from a vague nightmare (part of what makes it so terrifying is that we know so little) into something fully-realised and utterly terrible. It focuses on several prisoners of Azkaban, including Sirius, and what haunts them and taunts them as they sit trapped within its walls. I've never forgotten it since first reading it. Truly a haunting fic.

ozqueen

FANDOM: Scooby Doo
FIC LINK: The Road This Far Can't Be Retraced
AUTHOR LINK:

silverpenlight
RATING/WARNING(S): R | violence, character death
WIP?/WORD COUNT: complete | 3,500
MAIN CHARACTERS: Velma Dinkley, Scooby Doo, Daphne Blake, Fred Jones, Shaggy Rogers

FIC SUMMARY:

Velma saved them in the end. She knew she did, she wasn't shy about it. Her research gave them machetes, chainsaws and shotguns, garlic and holy water, silver bullets. She was the first one to take aim and squeeze off four shots, the last one taking the zombie right through the forehead and knocking him down hard before he could take a bite out of Fred's arm. She took the knife, the kitchen knife they'd found in Fred's apartment and the only one they had then, and she cut off the head and shot it one last time, spraying blood and brain across the asphalt of the road where they'd stopped for a bathroom break.

RECCER'S NOTES:

I don't even know what to say about this fic. It made me squirm (because it's violent and a bit gross) and also I teared up, and also it's SCOOBY DOO. Velma is forced to become a different person in an apocalyptic world, and it's just brilliant. The character building and the tension and fear is all so wonderful. I love darker spins on childhood classics, and this is one of my all time favourite examples.

thady

FANDOM: Stargate: Atlantis
FIC LINK: 5 ways to go crazy without trying.
AUTHOR LINK:

bratfarrar
RATING/WARNING(S): PG-13 | dark
WIP?/WORD COUNT: ficlet | ~ 590 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: team

FIC SUMMARY: see title.

RECCER'S NOTES:

Creepy and realistic, perhaps even more because it's easily imaginable. I could easily see this happening were SGA a darker show.

thady

FANDOM: Harry Potter
FIC LINK: Kitten Claws and Mudblood Wars [at LJ] | Kitten Claws and Mudblood Wars [at AO3]
AUTHOR LINK:

catsintheattic |

Catsintheattic
RATING/WARNING(S): R | ( content notes/warnings )
WIP?/WORD COUNT: one-shot | ~ 7,600 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Dolores Umbridge

FIC SUMMARY: Every crusade exacts a human cost, and Dolores is willing to see it paid in full.

RECCER'S NOTES:

This story features one of the most loathed characters from the Harry Potter books - Dolores Umbridge. It was originally written for the

hp_darkfest and it shows.

It's an intriguing view into Umbridge's head and how she became who she is.

catsintheattic strikes here a difficult balance - creating understanding (and a sense of sympathy) without excusing Umbridge's behavior. A truly fascinating character piece.

What impressed me the most though is the fact how seamlessly the story is incorporated into canon. Looking back at the books it fits perfectly in.

It's not an easy read (please heed the warnings!), but very well worth it.

thady

FANDOM: Stargate: Atlantis
FIC LINK: Staring at the Sun
AUTHOR LINK:

sholio |

sholio
RATING/WARNING(S): PG-13 | ( warnings )
WIP?/WORD COUNT: one-shot | ~ 4,700 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Rodney McKay; John Sheppard

FIC SUMMARY: Rodney used to believe that death was the worst thing that could happen on a mission. He was wrong.

RECCER'S NOTES:

This one had me sobbing. I hardly ever cry reading fiction, but this felt very real and grounded. Some time in the future McKay visits a brain injured Sheppard. Dealing with what's left of his friend is hard, and McKay's reaction and his feelings are very believable portrayed. This could happen, and it does happen to soldiers all too often. If you like realistic fanfiction, this is as close as it gets.

thady

FANDOM: Harry Potter
FIC LINK: The Right to Choose.
AUTHOR LINK:

kennahijja
RATING/WARNING(S): PG-13 | ( warnings behind the cut )
WIP?/WORD COUNT: one-shot | ~ 4,000 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Hélène Goyle (Gregory Goyle's mother); other characters mentioned

FIC SUMMARY: There is more to the identity of pure-blooded wizardry than the excesses of the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters. But the obligations that come with old blood are not always less painful…

RECCER'S NOTES:

This is a wonderful and chilling character study of Greg Goyle's mother. Since we don't really know much about her beside the fact that she must exist, she is mostly an original character. This doesn't matter though, for in this story we get to know her very well. She is sympathetic without being entirely likeable. I feel for her though.

It is a dark story, with dark themes, and it quite chilled me.

isabelquinn

FANDOM: Lost, The West Wing
FIC LINK: Seven Tomorrows
AUTHOR LINK:

falseeyelashes
RATING/WARNING(S): R (character death, dark themes, brief sexual content). Spoilers through to the end of season 2 of Lost, no specific West Wing spoilers.
WORD COUNT: 7991
MAIN CHARACTERS: Jed Bartlet, Leo McGarry, Josh Lyman, CJ Cregg, Donna Moss, Toby Ziegler, Sam Seabourne, Jack Shepherd, Kate Austen, Ben Linus, James Ford, Mr Eko, Sayid Jarrah, John Locke… more, probably.

FIC SUMMARY: It took seven days to shape the world. There are seven seals of the apocalypse. And it takes seven, seven events, seven days, seven years, seven, to bring the world to its knees. Planes are meant to crash and nukes are meant to detonate. Men are meant to kill and buildings are meant to fall. Fate is real, fate is a religion and a man not named Henry Gale is its only prophet. He's counting to seven.

RECCER'S NOTES: This fic is very dark and very angsty and very, very well done. The writing style has a hypnotic sort of lilt to it, which feels appropriately dreamlike as the world becomes more and more nightmarish. The descent into darkness and despair is beautifully paced.

It was posted in August 2006, back when the bulk of Lost hadn't yet aired, so it goes 100% AU from the season 2 finale onwards. It also has some background het ships, but they are in absolutely no way a major part the fic.

isabelquinn

FANDOM: The Hunger Games
FIC LINK: The End of the World
AUTHOR LINK:

FernWithy
RATING/WARNING(S): Violence, T+
WORD COUNT: 116, 395 (just for part 1)
MAIN CHARACTERS: Haymitch Abernathy, Maysilee Donner, Mr. Mellark, Mrs. Everdeen, Haymitch's Girl

FIC SUMMARY: Sixteen-year-old Haymitch Abernathy has plenty to worry about - a sick mother, a decrepit house, an empty larder. The last thing he's worried about is the Capitol's choice to double the number of Games tributes in a Quell year...

RECCER'S NOTES: This is the opposite of the fic I recced earlier today (it is neither short nor sweet: it's long and dark), but I love, love, love this fic. I'm not often keen for multichapter epics, I'm usually more inclined towards oneshots, but this one is absolutely an exception. The world building is incredible, the characters (both canon ones and OCs) feel completely real, and I can't quite put my finger on what it is about the writing, but it's just perfect.

isabelquinn

FANDOM: The Hunger Games
FIC LINK: Where the Vines Cling Crimson
AUTHOR LINK:

ghostie
RATING/WARNING(S): Teen +
WIP?/WORD COUNT: Complete / 1402 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Rue and Foxface

FIC SUMMARY: As you step through a hole in the fence you can almost hear the roar of the crowds, the wet choke of tendons snapping, the clink of blood dripping onto dark leaves.

There is no blood now, only flowers.

RECCER'S NOTES: This fic is just so haunting. The fairy tale-esque voice matches the premise of the fic perfectly, and it's an amazing example of just how effective second person can be when executed well. It's creepy as hell, which comes from the exact right mix of the horrible things that happen in canon and the supernatural elements added by the author.

thady

FANDOM: Harry Potter
FIC LINK: A Tale Of Seasons
AUTHOR LINK:

lordhellebore
RATING/WARNING(S): R | ( content )
WIP?/WORD COUNT: one-shot | ~ 7,200 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Bellatrix Lestrange, Neville Longbottom, Kreacher

FIC SUMMARY: Her master’s victory is nothing like Bellatrix hoped for. She lost everything, and even the Dark Lord has no more use for her. The only thing that is left to her is one prisoner, who gets to know a completely different side to the woman who destroyed his parents, a side he wishes he had never seen.

RECCER'S NOTES:

I've always been fascinated by the relationship between Bellatrix and Neville since we've found out that she tortured his parents to death. So what if Voldemort had won and Neville was Bellatrix' prisoner?

This story was posted at is dark and sharp and haunting. I love this Neville here, still so very much himself but so broken. And Bellatrix is just as I imagine her to be, insane and crazy and utterly devoid of hope and joy.

This story isn't an easy read, but the tension builds and builds until in the end there's no way but to fall down.

masu_trout

FANDOM: Ace Attorney
FIC LINK: Slow Dance
AUTHOR LINK: pantswarrior
RATING/WARNING(S): None
WIP?/WORD COUNT: Complete, 18,000 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Apolo Justice, Vera Misham, Trucy Wright, Phoenix Wright, Klavier Gavin

FIC SUMMARY: After Vera's trial comes an even more difficult struggle: trying to figure out what a normal life is and how to live it.

RECCER'S NOTES: This is a sweet, charming, found family about Vera Misham's attempts to learn normal life after her father's death. Her attempts to reach out to others and slowly build her confidence and the size of her world are sometimes sad but always heartwarming, and you just can't help but root for her.

FANDOM: Baccano!/Highlander
FIC LINK: Music for a Solitary Dancer
AUTHOR LINK: icarus_chained
RATING/WARNING(S): M, Violence
WIP?/WORD COUNT: Complete, 500 Words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Claire Stanfield

FIC SUMMARY: A Highlander-style immortal tries to challenge Claire Stanfield in a train yard, under the mistaken impression that he's another immortal. This goes about as well for said immortal as it has for any other immortal. Or, indeed, anyone else at all.
WARNINGS: Those who know Baccano!, Claire Stanfield. Everyone else, violence.

RECCER'S NOTES: A short but fantastically-written fic, and an excellent look into Claire's psyche.

espresso_addict

FANDOM: Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare)
FIC LINK: Nothing But One of Your Nine Lives
AUTHOR LINK:

russian_blue
RATING/WARNING(S): Teen | Character death
WIP?/WORD COUNT: Complete | ~1800 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Tybalt

FIC SUMMARY: Tybalt has a secret.

RECCER'S NOTES: This is a perfect example of the 'crack premise taken straight' micro-genre. Tybalt, 'Prince of Cats', inexplicably finds he can't die. His evolving reactions to his situation feel very believable, from questioning the philosophical implications to finding a reason to wish to continue living. Russian Blue uses his series of 'deaths' to paint a vivid picture of Verona before and during the play. Though the premise is dark, there's a ray of hope for him at the end that the play doesn't offer.

espresso_addict

FANDOM: Dark is Rising (Susan Cooper)
FIC LINK: Watch for the Greenwitch
AUTHOR LINK:

Selden
RATING/WARNING(S): Teen | No authorial warnings; horror
WIP?/WORD COUNT: Complete | ~2500 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Jane Drew, Will Stanton

FIC SUMMARY: The offering to the Greenwitch always looks tangled and cold. Jane is cold, too.

RECCER'S NOTES: Dark is Rising is a series of children's novels by Susan Cooper, loosely based in Arthurian mythology. Most of the fanfiction is very ship-focused, but there are some gen gems to be found. This unusual slow-building horror story spins off Greenwitch and focuses on Jane Drew. Selden does a good job of melding the prosaic with the supernatural, in the spirit of the original, and the luscious descriptions bring the Cornish coastal setting to life. Rereading the series as an adult I found the Light characters often felt inhumanly cold, and there's an interesting ambiguity to Will's actions in this story. (Does he precipitate events, or merely foretell them?) ~~There's a slight film moment early on (Mrs Stanton's American) but don't let that put you off.~~ ETA: My mistake; see comments!

espresso_addict

FANDOM: Vorkosigan Saga (Lois McMaster Bujold)
FIC LINK: Kindred Instruments
AUTHOR LINK:

ollipop
RATING/WARNING(S): General audiences | No authorial warnings; Jackson Whole ethics
WIP?/WORD COUNT: Complete | 4500 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Lotus Durona, Lilly Durona, Vasa Luigi Bharaputra

FIC SUMMARY: They know just as much about Lotus as she knows about herself. They know her aptitudes, her weaknesses. They have tweaked the neurochemical bath on her copies, for maximum effect. They are her, improved. She is them, unedited. She hates them.

Lotus Durona: Nature or nurture?

RECCER'S NOTES: A chilling piece that unpacks Lotus's defection to House Bharaputra. Ollipop skillfully fleshes out the villain PoV to gain the reader's sympathies for Lotus, and the story also explores the complex ethics of Jackson's Whole in a much more nuanced fashion than canon. The canonical pairing of Lotus/Baron Bharaputra forms one strand, but it's not a shippy fic; coming of age as one of a set of clones in the ultimate dysfunctional family is at the heart of the story.

espresso_addict

FANDOM: Doctor Who
FIC LINK: Looked Up in Perfect Silence at the Stars
AUTHOR LINK:

doyle_sb4,

Doyle-sb4, Doyle@Teaspoon
RATING/WARNING(S): G | None
WIP?/WORD COUNT: Complete | ~1900 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Sarah Jane Smith, Romana II

FIC SUMMARY: “If he’d left me on Earth,” Sarah said, “if he’d had time to take me home, like he’d meant to, before he got dragged back here... everything would have been different. My whole life.”

RECCER'S NOTES: Doyle's one of my favourite DW writers; I think this brief conversation piece is one of her best. It centres around the Time War, with a clever, disturbing look at the fallout that will send you back to the start as soon as you've finished the final paragraphs. The characters, all women, leap off the page, and their humour, bravery & pragmatism lighten what might otherwise be a very dark piece. Set on Gallifrey, it's also imbued with a lovely wistful sense of place.

I'm tagging this for author rec as I've never encountered a story of Doyle's that wasn't worth reading, and many of her works are gen. She also writes in the Buffyverse.

espresso_addict

FANDOM: Harry Potter
FIC LINK: Reclamation
AUTHOR LINK:

copperbadge
RATING/WARNING(S): Teen | Character death, discussion of suicide, homophobia
WIP?/WORD COUNT: Complete | ~5800 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Tom Riddle, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black

FIC SUMMARY: In an alternate universe, one man still struggles with a moral decision made many years before.

RECCER'S NOTES: Apologies for double posting today; I'm unlikely to find time to rec again until the end of next week.

This medium-length AU takes as its premise the idea that Tom Riddle never kills his father. Instead, he ends up as the Defence professor at Hogwarts, where he eventually teaches the Marauders. The consequences of the change to canon are of course far reaching, but always feel carefully worked out & plausible. The extent to which the change affects Tom's character as an adult is central to the story, and the question is skillfully & subtly handled, with Tom on the surface completely changed from Lord Voldemort, yet surprisingly recognisable. As the story is told entirely from his perspective, there's an interesting potential for ambiguity around how reliable he is as a narrator. One of the most interesting AUs I've ever read in the Potterverse.

espresso_addict

FANDOM: The Lord of the Rings
FIC LINK: The Strange Case of the House at Hollinport (rtf download)
AUTHOR LINK: The Burping Troll
RATING/WARNING(S): Unrated | None
WIP?/WORD COUNT: Complete | ~13,500 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Original characters, [mystery]

FIC SUMMARY: From his hospital bed, a man recalls inheriting his uncle's house in the town of Hollinport. Taking up residence was only the first step of a dark and terrifying journey. A Gothic encounter with Shadow that is not, after all, quite vanquished from the world ... A classic horror must-read!

RECCER'S NOTES: Set in the Fourth Age, the story kicks off from the quotation 'There are older and fouler things than orcs in the deep places of the world.' It's written in a very convincing pastiche of a Poe or Lovecraft short story, yet eventually comes to mesh perfectly with Tolkien's canon. Russ has a gift for atmosphere, and there's great slow-building tension as the mystery unfolds. I wrote back in 2004 that this is 'one of the most unusual LotR-inspired fiction I've ever encountered,' and it stands up very well to rereading a decade later.

The Espresso Addict

Diary & multifandom recs

gensplosion!

Entries tagged with dark

Scooby-Doo: Shaggy the Dog Handler by Rorschach's Blot

Red Dwarf: Nine Little Words, by Adrian Tullberg

MCU/Captain America: anyway, here's wonderwall, by KiaraSayre

harry potter: the abyss gazes also, by tangleofthorns

scooby doo: the road this far can't be retraced, by silverpenlight

SGA: 5 ways to go crazy without trying, by bratfarrar.

HP: Kitten Claws and Mudblood Wars, by catsintheattic.

SGA: Staring at the Sun, by Sholio.

HP: The Right to Choose, by kennahijja.

Lost/The West Wing: Seven Tomorrows

The Hunger Games: The End of the World

The Hunger Games: Where the Vines Cling Crimson by ghostie

HP: A Tale Of Seasons, by lordhellebore.

Baccano!/Highlander fic by icarus_chained & Ace Attorney fic by pantswarrior

Romeo and Juliet: Nothing But One of Your Nine Lives, by Russian Blue

Dark is Rising: Watch for the Greenwitch, by Selden

Vorkosigan: Kindred Instruments, by Ollipop

Doctor Who: Looked Up in Perfect Silence at the Stars, by Doyle

Harry Potter: Reclamation, by Copperbadge

Lord of the Rings: The Strange Case of the House at Hollinport, by Russ

The Espresso Addict